NBC has given the green light to an untitled multi-camera comedy from Saturday Night Live writer John Mulaney and SNL honcho Lorne Michaels. The project, produced by Universal TV, Michaels’ Broadway Video and 3 Arts, is a young ensemble comedy starring standup Mulaney that is loosely based on his life. Mulaney wrote the pilot, which he is executive producing with Michaels, Broadway’s Andrew Singer and 3 Arts’ Dave Becky and David Miner. On SNL, Mulaney co-created with Bill Hader the Stefon character and has appeared on Weekend Update. This marks the fourth NBC multi-camera comedy pilot this season vs. 10 single-camera pilots, one straight-to series (Michael J. Fox) and one presentation (Jessica Simpson). For a full list of broadcast network pilots and for all Deadline pilot season stories, go to our Pilot Panic page.

27 Comments

Aaand John Mulaney is exactly what it would take for me to watch a multi-camera sitcom again.

NotlobParrot • on Jan 25, 2013 12:07 pm

Agreed.

Jeff • on Jan 25, 2013 12:07 pm

Me too

Good • on Jan 25, 2013 12:07 pm

John Mulaney is hilarious. Hope this pilot works out for him!

Zachary • on Jan 25, 2013 12:07 pm

While I prefer single cameras (as my previous comments have indicated), I will take a chance on basically any show. That being said, NBC has had only 1 new multi cam in the 21st century that I liked. That was Teachers. And everybody else hated it. On the contrary, they have had only 1 single cam that I did NOT like, that being The New Normal. And in a really weird coincidence, they both starred Justin Bartha.

Zachary • on Jan 25, 2013 12:07 pm

I should amend that that statement. I did not like Best Friends Forever either.

Danni • on Jan 25, 2013 12:07 pm

I liked Best Friends Forever. Thought it deserved more than NBC gave it.

Also surprised how much Whitney has turned around this season. It’s the one everyone hates, and it deserved the disdain season 1 and for its pre-launch marketing. This season though, it’s enjoyable. It’s not great, but its 1000x better than anything Lorre has come up with. I think to win back viewers and people who are avoiding it they need to do an about-face ad campaign and say, “Look, we get it. Season 1 was, eh not so great. But give us a second go.” Got nothing to lose at this point.

T'Rank • on Jan 25, 2013 12:07 pm

I think that shows the value of multi-cam in a weird way – they’re harder to do well but better when they are done well. Anyway, I sure hope NBC picks this one up. They desperately need multi-cams with new and admired talents, and Mulaney (I say this as someone who doesn’t know him) is someone whose sitcom people would actually be excited to see.

T'Rank • on Jan 25, 2013 12:07 pm

“Don’t know him *personally*,” I should have said. I know his work.

squeevee • on Jan 25, 2013 12:07 pm

How are they harder to do well? The only single cam that has had real success has been Modern Family – and that’s largely due to the writing and the fact that the creator largely came from multi-cam shows. Modern Family would probably do even better as a multi-cam – and doing away with those gimmicky shopworn cutaways those single cam shows love to use in lieu of good writing and characters.

T'Rank • on Jan 25, 2013 12:07 pm

I just think that right now it seems like writers find it easier to do single-camera well, or maybe we’re just more tolerant of middling writing in single-cam – but most single-cams wind up getting at least respectful reviews while multi-cams don’t. (A multi-cam with joke writing as weak as Ben & Kate would be the most hated show on the planet. As a single-cam, it’s considered kind of cute.) So I think multi-cams are harder to do well at the moment, but it’s worth the effort because when they are done well, they’re huge.

happy • on Jan 25, 2013 12:07 pm

YESSS!!! CONGRATS MULANEY & everyone.

watching TV • on Jan 25, 2013 12:07 pm

16th comedy pilot pick up for NBC. they are going to clean house big time. matthew perry will probably be the only new comedy to survive.

watching TV • on Jan 25, 2013 12:07 pm

make that 17 comedy pilots for NBC with the latest from Bill Lawrence. Matthew Perry could be gone too.
I say clean house house of all the dogs no one is watching. New Normal, Go On, 1600 Penn, Guys with Kids. They’re all doing 1.2-1.4 ratings and have about 3-3.5 million viewers. any new show isn;t going to do any worse. these all are established as crap. try something new. you can’t really do worse, but the potential upside is much greater.

bj • on Jan 25, 2013 12:07 pm

All of them gone? That seems a bit much, no? Perry’s show will probably do better once “The Voice” returns, and if it does, wouldn’t it make sense to give it one more shot? I wouldn’t be surprised to see “Parks” and/or “Community” back for syndication reasons, “Parks” especially. Nor would I be surprised to see a few of these shows get reduced orders.

The bigger question is, how many hours does NBC want to devote to comedy? If it’s going to do just eight, as it has now, it’s more likely that there will be carnage. If they try to expand to more, and/or if they play around with the schedule so that there are more shows but they run for shorter and interrupted breaks, it’s easier to see how a few more will survive.

Zachary • on Jan 25, 2013 12:07 pm

As much as I like 1600 Penn, that is probably true. Luckily, it seems like NBC likes the show, so that is a good sign. But it still will probably get cancelled.

Danni • on Jan 25, 2013 12:07 pm

Huge Mulaney fan, but this isn’t the right vehicle for him, especially as a relative unknown. He should replace Seth Meyers as Weekend Update anchor. And not next fall, but next week. Meyers has been in the seat too long, hasn’t been that funny, and feels the need to SHOUT everything he is saying.

Nope • on Jan 25, 2013 12:07 pm

This is the PERFECT vehicle. The man is hilarious and a brilliant writer. If the network does it right it’ll be his Seinfeld (bold statement I know).

Danni • on Jan 25, 2013 12:07 pm

But this is NBC. The network won’t do it right, and if they do do it right, they won’t promote it right.

See ‘Up All Night’ for not doing it right. See ‘Best Friends Forever’ for not promoting.

John is a uniquely talented performer. Good for him. You owe it to yourself to go to youtube and watch him do stand up.

Rox • on Jan 25, 2013 12:07 pm

LOVE Mulaney, So happy for him, wish him the BEST of luck

ngozi • on Jan 25, 2013 12:07 pm

John Mulaney is freakin’ brilliant and such a natural that he DESERVES a show. I cannot wait to see it.. Kudos to you, John!

Comedy Writer • on Jan 25, 2013 12:07 pm

Like Mulaney a lot, but I read this pilot and it’s pretty lazy writing. More like New Girl/Mindy Project-style humor and less Seinfeld-style observational humor. It’s not terrible, at least not by NBC pilot standards, but I hope the show would be a lot sharper if it makes it to series…